Mechanics, repairmen, craftsman and other tool users commonly desire that drawers or trays in storage chests, particularly in tool boxes, be subdividable to a series of compartments for organizing and segregating various components therein. This is particularly applicable to various sizes, lengths and types of wrenches required for a specific function. Many systems have been devised for this purpose, including systems using insertible notched strips or a set of dowel inserts held in place between a pair of opposed walls in a drawer. Some of the systems store wrenches in a horizontal fashion which makes it difficult to retrieve certain wrenches as well as to determine the exact size of the horizontally stored wrenches.
It is desirable to provide a uniquely-shaped and sized tool organizer that optimizes storage space efficiency in a standard sized toolbox. It is additionally desirable to provide a commercially attractive tool organizer which is economically manufactured to enable storage of and access to wrenches of a particular size in a graduated manner such that their size and dimensions can be readily ascertained. It is also desirable to provide a tool organizer wherein elongated wrenches are enabled to lay flat and stacked, and are presented preferably in a vertical array. It is further desirable to provide a tool organizer which may be downsized according to the support surface constraints of the tool user.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a tool organizer which is produced to accommodate multiple wrench sets within the same organizing unit. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a tool organizer which requires no assembly of inserts and has no movable parts. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tool organizer having an indexing system for readily identifying a particular wrench or tool in a particular fixed storage area. Another object of the present invention is to provide a wrench organizer having connected walls which are selectively separable to split or divide the organizer into at least two independent sections. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tool organizer having a tray which may be subdivided into multiple trapezoidal departments of a progressive size and shape. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide tool organizer which is highly resistant to breakage, corrosion, cracking and peeling.
In one aspect of the invention, a tool organizer includes a support base having vertical wall structure including a pair of opposed end walls and a pair of opposed parallel side walls. The vertical wall structure is constructed and arranged on the support base to form a tray having a series of tool holding compartments progressively changing in both width and length as viewed from one side wall to the other side wall. The vertical wall structure includes a plurality of parallel, spaced apart, stationary interior walls extending upwardly from the support base. Each of the interior walls lies parallel to the side walls and perpendicular to the one of the end walls so as to vertically orient the compartment with respect to the one end wall. The vertical wall structure also includes at least one set of divider walls extending upwardly from the support base and lying between and parallel to one pair of the interior walls. The divider walls are connected together between the end walls, and they are selectively separable to divide the formed tray into two respective independent sections. One of the independent sections has a substantially rectangular periphery, and the other of the independent sections has a substantially trapezoidal periphery. The vertical wall structure further includes a ridge extending between the side walls, which defines one end limit of each compartment and one of the end walls defines another end limit of each compartment. The ridge lies at an angle of less than 90.degree. relative to either of the end walls. The ridge is formed with a set of spaced apart identifiers in the form of circular depressions for indicating the contents of the compartments, there being one identifier for each of the compartments. Each of the compartments has a common depth and is substantially trapezoidally shaped. The vertical wall structure further includes at least one auxiliary interior wall extending between one of the end walls and the ridge for defining at least one pair of auxiliary tool holding compartments. An auxiliary ridge is formed with another set of identifiers for identifying the contents of the auxiliary compartments. In the preferred embodiment, the tray is fabricated from a molded plastic material. Each of the compartments has a substantially constant width throughout its length except for a triangular area nearest the ridge in each compartment.
In another aspect of the invention a wrench organizer for storing elongated wrenches includes a planar support base, a front end wall, a rear end wall spaced from and parallel to the front end wall, a pair of opposed, parallel side walls, a ridge extending between the side walls and lying at an inclined angle relative to the front end wall, and a series of fixed interior walls lying parallel to the side walls and extending upwardly from the support base between the ridge and the front end wall, and the ridge and the rear end wall. The front end wall, the rear end wall, the side walls, the ridge and the interior walls define a tray having a series of variously sized tool holding compartments for holding a plurality of wrenches in a progressively sized manner such that the longitudinal axes of the wrenches lie substantially perpendicularly to the front end wall, and at least a pair of auxiliary compartments for retaining wrench-related equipment therein. The length of the front end wall defines the width of the tray. The rear end wall extends from one of the side walls to the ridge. The wrench organizer includes a pair of connected divider walls extending between the ridge and the front end wall, the dividing walls being unhooked to divide the formed tray into a first section having a substantially rectangular periphery and a second section having a substantially trapezoidal periphery. The first section is bounded by a portion of the front end wall, one of the side walls, the rear end wall and one of the divider walls. The second section is formed of another portion of the front end wall, the other of the divider walls, a portion of the ridge and the other of the side walls. Each tool holding compartment is provided with an identifier for identifying the contents therein.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.